crime fiction word of mouth Based on the gripping
Foxtel series
'CIA gives us criminality,
violence, gritty
realism, horror and
psychopathology.'
Graeme Blundell,
e Australian
In stores August 2010
Caught
Harlan Coben
After resur recting his recurring hero
Myron Bolitar in last year's Long Lost,
suspense king Harlan Coben changes
tack in 2010, with Caught, a challenging
and action-packed stand-alone. Coben's
latest begins with Wendy Tynes breaking
an explosive news story on her national
current affairs program: she accuses a popular and well-known
social worker, Dan Mercer, of being a sexual predator.
Even when her evidence against him is tossed out, his
old life is over as townsfolk turn on him and his family.
Meanwhile, the town is rocked by the disappearance of a
17-year-old sports star.Tynes finds herself questioning what
she believes and digging to find the truth, uncovering plenty
of skeletons in plenty of closets along the way.
Coben has built his name on pulse-pounding tales
where secrets of the past come terrifyingly to bear on the
present, and he delivers this once more. Some readers may
find the plot a little too intricate, with too many characters,
issues and aspects brought together -- including pedophilia,
embezzlement, murder, the dangers of social networking
websites and underage drinking -- but there's no doubt
Caught is an exciting and entertaining story that gallops
along, twisting to the end.
★★★ Orion $32.99
Reviewed by Craig Sisterson
Dark Blood
Stuart MacBride
After taking an authorial detour
with the futuristic thriller Halfhead,
Stuart MacBride retur ns to the grit and
grime of contemporary Aberdeen with
the sixth and latest instalment in his
award-winning Logan McRae series.
Paroled Newcastle rapist Richard
Knox decides he wants to make a
new life in the wintry north, forcing the granite city's finest
to protect him from an outraged populace. Meanwhile,
DS McRae is copping it from all directions. His superiors are
overloading him and questioning his attitude; he's hitting the
drink increasingly hard; and he's spending more time before
Professional Standards than dealing with his massive caseload;
and the local crime lord is leaving him envelopes of cash.
And he'll no doubt be expected to pay a hefty price for these
envelopes at some point in the future. His ethics? His career?
His soul?
MacBride's touch for character interaction and team
dynamics (complete with realistic -- if coarse -- language and
off-colour humour) is engaging as he delivers another solid
instalment in an excellent series. Readers can't help but feel
for (and follow) beleaguered McRae, as he tries to weather
blizzards both natural and political, solve several cases, pull
himself from his malaise, and decide if he even wants to
remain a cop.
★★★ HarperCollins $32.99
Reviewed by Craig Sisterson